Derived from an ever developing Internet and public art project titled “A Band of Floating Mushrooms” started in 2011, the artwork “Mushrooms on Tour” is a derivative work consisting of a series of polygonal models of mushrooms. These models consist of groups of diverse mushroom forms which pop up at unexpected locations. They stand as a metaphor of the change of balance between private and public spaces, which are undergoing a metamorphoses in both their physical and digital manifestations. The music that accompanies each of the groups, or “bands” of mushrooms consists of collected sound clips assembled and streamed to the viewer in real-time. The version of this work created for the Virtuale Switzerland, introduces several new groups of mushrooms, which will be performing a recorded stream from their last gigs from the here and there of the Internet world. A comparable scenario is planned for Hanover on Raschplatz.

The work is the result of a creative workshop where participants decorated their faces with post-its in to make selfes that to be used as textures on butterfly wings. The prepared Selfies combine uniquely into an artwork that celebrates a feeling for life, because viewing the work brings all into joyful and carefree mood and as they see people as free and as beautiful as butterlfies flying around without cares. However, the “We AR Butterflies” is not only an artwork for children, all are welcome to particpate. The artwork is the results of a hands on workshop for children of any ages (including adults), which teaches all to transform themselves using a process of creative metamorphosis into colourful butterflies with using post-its, a mobile phone and some computer magic. The work features butterflies created in several countries in the world and which swarm together peacefully as one.

The title of this “Ecce Homo” AR work realized by the Virtuale Swizerland for the Hannoverian artist Ingo Lie. It refers to the biblically proclaimed exclamation of the Roman governor Pontius Pilatus “behold, a man” at his presentation of Christ to the people. Floating as an apparition above church ruins, is artist’s self-portrait, divided into eight cubes arranged into a three-dimensional cross and traversed by red and blue lines. The line system, as part of a color-theoretical and cosmological concept often used by Lie, refers to the interconnectedness of man with the surrounding world, and the geometric fragmentation of into a cruciform shape depicts the increasing loss of holistic self-perception in the digital age. In regard to the symbology of the wor, the artist has said: “Everything that is, was and nothing will be, as it was. Everything that was, will remain to appear, and that appearance will become the new being. Has man not already become the product of his imagination with the intention of recognizing and realizing less of himself and more of the imagination?” Ecce Simulatio!

Tralfamadorians are a fictional alien race, that appear in several novels by Kurt Vonnegut. They have the ability to experience reality in four dimensions, meaning that they have full access to the past, present and future, and this allows them to do whatever they want at any time. The AR work “The Arrival of the Tralfamadorians”, developed by the Swiss artist group The Curiously Minded, is based on Vonegut-s idea of the possibility of a parallelism between the future, the present, and the past, which is artistically interprted by the artists at the interface between the smartphone display and Platz der WeltausstellungEssentially, the work is an installation that creates a virtual environment in which a viewer can experience timelessness and develop a sense of place, where he can intervene and transcend the present. Flying objects reminiscent of unearthly visitors come and go through an infinite loop of day and night, modulating between far and near and made viewable by the looking glass of the 21st century – the smart phone.

The work is in the form of a sculptural bust of a unknown. The approach to creating it is best described as something that is the result of having a bit of fun with AR and CG medium. This bust was originally modeled in a tradiontal manner using clay and then using photogrammetry techniques to capture and convert it into the non-tactile world of the digital. In the process of conversion, the object became broken, bringing about in many cases something that is more interesting and has its own life and history in both the real and the virtual world. This type of art is in part the artist signiature and reflects his interest in translating ‘found art’ into the medium of digital sculpture, where the object is reinterpreted digitally by recombining the forms using voxel and polygonal based sculpting tools.

“Crystal Coffin” is the title of the Chinese artist duo Lily & Honglei created as a walk-in pavilion based on Moa’s Crystal, which is virtually placed in front of the new town hall. The creation of the “Crystal Coffin” was inspired by the object of the same name that which has been on exhibiton since his passing on Tiananmen Square. As the artists themselves write: “While China has in many ways transformed into a modern society in the 21st century and is gaining more economic and political influence around the world, Mao’s crystal coffin, the immortal-looking shell, still exists as a symbol of an authoritarianism system of rule. In the spring of 2011, cracking down on dissent – including the imprisonment of many intellectuals and members of religious groups – followed by clear signs of a revival of Maoist policies has stunned people about China’s future direction. We therefore use the crystal coffin of Mao as the main component of the virtual “China Pavilion” crowned with a tower and an old-style roof, as mandated by the Chinese Ministry of Construction: architectural designs must reflect traditional Chinese architectural styles. “ In the end, the work poses the question to the viewer as to whether it is a symbol indicative of the exportation of an authoritarian system manifesting at Hannover-s town hall.

The artist Regina Frank combines in this work a strong connection to digital photography and the associated selfie phenomenon. In an ironic way, she questions the phenomena of “mobile photography”. In the AR context, their installation iLAND, like iLIFE, is also virtually present in Sickness in Health, which is currently shown in its real form in the exhibition Eco Visionaries at the MAAT (Museum of Art Architecture and Technology).

In its early days Salem Merchant trade specialized in the export of cod fish to bring home molasses, oranges, iron, salt and wines. Massachusetts Bay cod, the Atlantic Cod or Gadus morhua, were so plentiful that they became the hallmark of New England fisheries and trade. Up until recently. A 2014 NOAA scientific survey revealed that up to 80% of the cod have been either fished or suffered from the effects of warming oceans. A recent Discovery Channel film, “Sacred Cod,” documents the struggle between the cod fisherman’s livelihood and science behind the fisheries’ regulation. “Ascension of Cod,” premiering for this exhibition, suggests the shared hallowed role that the species plays in these two perspectives. This work augmented reality work creates a school of virtual cod swimming upwards in a column around and above as if in an ascension to the heavens. It is in some sense both a reverence and farewell vision of the species that has fed us so well.

Title: The Information Virus (Notitiaviridae internets)
Artist: Warren Armstrong (AUS)Placement: Kurt Schwitters Platz, and other places in the city

As a result of the constant stream of abbreviated information it fires at us, some are claiming that the Internet is destroying our ability to process long-form data like novels and opera. If so, it deserves to be classified as a disease, but one, like latent toxoplasmosis, which may actually have positive side effects in certain cases (eg increased immediate connection with the knowledge and worlds of others). But if it is a disease, what is its vector of transmission? Is there an organism responsible; incubated perhaps in the faeces of LOLcats? The Information Virus is an augmented reality work based around a re-purposed commercial 3D model of an adenovirus. Sequences of public domain images randomly sourced from Wikimedia Commons flash across its surfaces, giving it “life”. Onlookers can approach and interact with the work (by taping on the virus’s label then pressing the “Listen” button) and are rewarded with a brief random public domain audio dispatch from the past sourced diverse and appropriate channels. Warning: All necessary precautions were taken when manifesting the Information Virus. Risks of new forms of infection resulting from close virtual contact should thus be considered minimal.)

“On the way to Phoebe” is the title of the AR-work realized by the Virtuale Swizerland for the Hannoverian artist Harro Schmidt.The work refers to the complexity, diversity and scientific background of Schmidt’s artistic work and testifies to his interest in expanding borders and exploring new potentials. At the same time, the work subtly quotes earlier works. In virtual space, for example, different objects developed by Schmidt and subsequently animated in 3-D, reminiscent of both molecular structures and spaceships, cross the hypothetical orbital path of the Jupiter moon Phoebe.The free floating, spatial collage is underlaid with a soundtrack that is inspired by Andreas Eschbach’s novel “Exponentialdrift”.In its essense, the work connects diverse genres and at the same time opens up new dimensions of artistic expression by combining the real with augmented reality technology.

“Portal Garden” was the result of a transformation of Y. Saegusa’s graphic templates into a new work using AR technique by Virtuale Switzerland. The starting point was a series poster prints of Japanese Butoh dance and its digital processing into skin textures for floating lantern. The artists hopes to express throuhg the work, that “Butoh dance knows no jump, no spin in the air like the classical ballet or the modern dance, but happens slowly, slow motion like the depating of souls”. Calm and silence are part of the expression of Butoh, as well as the mood of the performenräs heart. The lanterns are viewable using a mobile device as they hover above the Georgstraße between the Kröpke and Steintorplatz, unfolding their magical glow, especially in the evenings. By focusing the phone at a single lantern, the viewer can steer the”skyward”. The artist says: “When a lantern flies away, its soul flies from the starting point into the world. Portal Garden is a tribute to the deceased Butoh dancer souls “.

Through a process of replicating, enlarging, and modifying, a two dimensional drawings is developed by referencing of drawn imageries. Organic structures and cosmic representation play with an ambiguity of aggressive appearance and extreme fragility as sizes shift and time expands and implodes in a strange artificial, illuminating light casts of black shadows.